The rules, which affect social media giants like Weibo Corp as well as small platforms that have thrived in China's buzzing creative online space, are the latest step toughening oversight ahead of the Communist Party Congress later this year, when President Xi Jinping is expected to consolidate power.
Iraq: Iraqi Actor Murdered Because He Looked Gay
Venezuela: LGBTzuela: choosing between the tricolor and the rainbow flag
Debunking “Trans Women Are Not Women” Arguments
Turkey: Turkish police chase away transgender marchers in Istanbul
Turkey: For Abused, Gay Iraqi in Turkey, U.S. Refugee Freeze Is Cruelest Hit
US: President Trump adds violently anti-transgender activist Bethany Kozma to Office of Gender Equality and Women’s Rights
China Bans LGBT Content From the Web
Poland: Gay rights face backlash in Poland
“They’re not fully safe. People can be out, but they probably wouldn’t walk hand-in-hand in the street … but in other parts of the country, people can’t come out at work, they rarely tell their parents, it’s very difficult to come out in schools, and they [LGBTI people] don’t have any meeting spaces”
US: 17-year-old trans woman shot dead in a “tragic act of violence” is youngest killed in US this year
Kenya’s uninformed ban on TV shows with gay characters is extremely dangerous
US: Middle Eastern LGBTQs Underrepresented in Health Research — And That’s a Problem
While the demand for a more intersectional approach to LGBTQ activism is heartening, as an Arab American I can’t help but feel that the voices LGBTQ people of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) origin are not being heard at a time when anti-Arab, anti-refugee, and Islamophobic sentiment is at an all-time high.